1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image capture and data collection systems and, more specifically, to a system and method for reducing specular reflection in optical images to be interpreted and decoded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Specular reflection, or glare, often presents a problem during the interpretation of images captured by automatic identification systems, such as bar code scanners or vision processing devices. Conventional methods of reducing specular reflection involve sophisticated systems having multiple light sources and/or imagers. For example, some systems use an array of mirrors for selecting specific wavelengths of light and a detector having two charged coupled devices (CCDs) tuned to different wavelengths to take two images of a target. The detector is programmed to selectively buffer the image data and correct for any specular reflection using information obtained from both CCDs. These systems, however, require additional hardware and strategic positioning of the illumination source for proper functioning and are therefore costly and time consuming to implement.